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Castiel met Dean at the library on a rainy Saturday afternoon in December. Dean was curled up with The Children of Hurin in his lap in the childrens section of the library. Castiel was supposed to be clearing out the section for a reading session with toddlers, but instead, he’d asked Dean what he thought of the book, and, three hours later, Dean left with his number.
They would text all day every day. Even when Dean was supposed to be working (he was a writer, Castiel learned), and even when Castiel was supposed to be studying (Castiel was in his final year at university).
Dean would call him sometimes, tell him that he couldn’t stop thinking about him, and twice, he’d got himself off on the sound of Castiel’s voice alone. The first time, Castiel had been in his apartment picking at his dinner which he’d managed to burn, wondering if Dean was any good at cooking. The second time, he was at his friends’ grandmothers wake - he’d got so worked up after the phone call, he had to go jerk off in the bathroom and walked around all day worrying that everybody knew what he’d been doing.
Their first date was at the little bistro on the same road as Castiel’s house. On a Tuesday night, the bistro had Irish night where they would play Irish music and the best dancer(s) would win two free pints of Guinness.
Dean walked him home after that first night and they toppled into Castiel’s bed, Dean fucking him into the sheets, Castiel calling out his name in bliss.
By the fifth date - which was at Lola’s, a restaurant in the city - Dean had a drawer in Castiel’s bedroom. It was mostly socks and underwear, but every time Castiel accidentally opened the drawer in search for his work-shirts, he would feel all tingly and warm.
The first time Dean said I love you was at Dean’s house. He’d cooked them a meal and they’d watched a James Cameron movie, holding hands underneath a blanket.
Dean turned to Cas, and traced the shape of Castiel’s face and said:
“I love you,”
Castiel fucked Dean that night, right on the sofa. He’d worked him open with his tongue and Dean was practically sobbing by the time he came. As Castiel joined him, he’d cried that he loved him too, and that was it.
It was out there; and there was no taking it back.
Castiel introduced Dean to his family three months into the relationship.
Cas had come out to his family when he was young, and his mother, Naomi, had supported him completely. The only thing she hadn’t supported was his relationship with Meg Masters - but they’d decided they were better as friends after about 5 months.
Dean turned up in a suit (Castiel’s favourite suit) with a bottle of wine for Naomi.
“Dean, I’ve heard so much about you,” His mother gushed, pouring herself a glass of the wine Dean had given her.
“Like wise, Mrs Novak. Your son talks about you like you put the moon in the sky,” Dean joked, taking his seat beside Castiel.
Dean linked his fingers with Cas’ under the table and shot him a sly grin.
He squeezed three times. I love you.
“I put Jupiter there, too,” Naomi joked, gesturing to Gabriel to get the garlic bread from out of the oven.
Gabriel offered Dean a lollipop as he went into the kitchen and Dean accepted - meaning Gabriel accepted him. Nobody ever knew why, but Gabriel automatically disliked a person who didn’t accept the sweets he offered them.
Balthazar, Cas’ cousin, was also a writer, and they had spent the entire dinner talking about a publishing company that appeared to be closing, and, of course, Naomi chipped in with the scandal surrounding its closing.
Castiel didn’t have a father for Dean to impress, but Castiel was sure if he did, his father would be beaming with pride, and would accept Dean with open arms.
Dean had stayed the night and they’d quietly got each other off in Castiel’s childhood room, where all his childhood posters were staring at them, judging. It was as close to voyeurism as Castiel would ever get.
Castiel met Dean’s friends; mostly by accident.
They’d been wanting to try a sushi bar in the city for months, but neither of them had been able to go until Dean had called them up and booked a table to celebrate six months together. They had been seated for exactly 7 minutes when Castiel heard someone shout Dean’s name.
“Dean?” The voice got closer and Dean tensed, looking up.
“Sammy,” He practically squarked. “What are you doing here?”
This Sammy laughed, looking between Dean and Cas with slight curiosity. “I’m hear to eat the sushi, Dean, like everyone else. Who’s your friend?” Sammy questioned, pulling up a spare seat and sitting beside Dean.
“This is Cas, my uh, boyfriend. Cas, this is my kid brother, Sam,” Dean was staring at his plate like it held the answers to the mystery of life.
Castiel held out his hand to say how do you do when Sam cut in with:
“Does Dad know?” Castiel felt his stomach drop to his toes. Dean wasn’t out.
Dean wasn’t out and he hadn’t told his family, or his friends and Dean was probably going to break up with him so that he would never have to leave the safety of his closet. He knew so many closeted boys who broke it off with their partners because they wanted to stay closeted.
“No, not yet,” Dean said quietly. “Don’t tell him, Sam. I’m not ashamed or whatever you’re gonna think of me, Castiel, but I’m just not ready for him to know, alright?”
Castiel gave a curt nod before staring down the menu so he would have something else to concentrate on.
His heart was pounding in his ears, his stomach in knots. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop at any second, waiting for Dean to leave.
“So listen, I’m here with the guys, do you want to come over and join us?” Sam pointed towards the back somewhere. There was a couple of seconds of tense silence where Castiel expected Dean to say no, I don’t want anybody knowing, Sammy but he didn’t.
“What do you say, Cas? Wanna meet the rabble?” Dean asked cautiously.
“Sure,” Cas stood, and Dean joined him, taking his hand and following Cas to the table.
They let their waitress know they’d moved tables as they went, so she didn’t think they’d done a dine and dash.
“Guys, this is Castiel,” Sam announced as they approached the table. Two people moved over to give room for Cas and Dean.
“Hey Cas,” One of the girls waved.
“We have Benny, Charlie, Jo, Kevin, Anna and Chuck,” Dean listed off everyone while pointing to them. “No Bela tonight?”
“She says she doesn’t trust food that hasn’t been cooked first,” Jo rolled her eyes. “So how do you guys know each other?”
Castiel held his breath, waiting for Dean to say we’re friends or some other closet-case bullshit, but again, he was surprised.
“He’s my boyfriend. We’ve been dating for six months, ain’t that right, Cas?”
“Yes,” Cas choked out as he sat down beside Charlie. “Six months today,”
Nobody missed a beat before responding with a lift of their drinks and shouting in celebration. Cas had no idea what he was worried about, surely if his friends were this accepting, his father would be too?
Dean had told him his father was in the military, perhaps a boyfriend was going against Dean’s ‘plan’, which undoubtedly had probably included following in John’s footsteps.
“Congratulations. You’re just about to make it out of the honeymoon period, get ready to get so angry at each other, you’ll hate each other,” Jo clinked her glass with Castiel’s.
“Oh, I don’t know. Dean’s honeymoon period is usually what, four days? I’m surprised anyone other than us has managed to last this long with him,” Chuck grinned, pushing his glasses up.
Anna laughed, and her next words put Cas on edge.
“Yeah, when I was with him, I couldn’t stand him after two weeks!” She giggled, linking her fingers with Chuck’s.
He looked down at his drink, unsure what to say next.
Castiel remembered that night well, and he’d been invited to every single meet up of the group since. They treated him like he’d always been part of the group, and sometimes Charlie and Jo would call him up during the day and ask him to come over and play games, like he was some sort of Dean-substitute.
They (and Castiel’s brothers and cousins) celebrated Castiel’s birthday, and they helped Castiel organise Dean and Cas’ one year anniversary surprise.
But, even at their one-year, he hadn’t met John or Mary Winchester.
He met Mary by accident, too.
He was waiting in his car outside of the Winchester house, Dean had run in to get his suit for an important meeting, when she pulled into her drive and came walking over. She’d assumed he was watching the house like a peeping Tom and he’d had to rush to explain he was waiting for Dean, who’d run into get his clothes.
She paused, and then grinned.
“You’re Castiel,”
“Yes,” He’d said dumbly.
“My sons have told me a lot about you. I’m surprised Dean hasn’t brought you round for dinner yet,” She sighed, looking over to Dean’s old bedroom window where he looked like he was tearing the room up to find something. “I know about you and my son, and I wish he could see that it’s okay,” She left him with promises of inviting her round for dinner one evening and a few seconds later, Dean ran outside and into the passenger seat.
The next week, Mary was around for dinner at Castiel’s. Dean and Cas celebrated Christmas morning together, although Dean had promised he would be round at his parents for Christmas dinner.
They spent New Years together at Jo’s, with their friends, and at midnight, they kissed and Castiel’s wish was that Dean would face his father.
On Dean’s birthday, Castiel was invited to Dean’s parents house for a party.
He freaked out and it took the entire gang to calm him down and tell him that John Winchester wasn’t that bad and that he had nothing to worry about. It made him worry more.
On the day of the party, he was practically in bits, and his stomach was in knots as he walked up to the house. He rang the doorbell and was relieved when Sam answered the door, telling him to go through to the back where John and Dean were barbecuing.
“Cas!” Dean shouted, beaming widely as his boyfriend came through the door.
“Happy birthday,” Cas handed over a present and card. He really wanted to kiss Dean. He really wanted to. He wanted to run his hands through his hair, tell him he loved him. He wanted to tell him all the bad things he was going to do to him for his birthday treat. But instead, he put his hand on his shoulder and told him he hoped he enjoyed the present.
“You gonna introduce me, kid, or am I gonna have to do it myself?” John interrupted, holding out his hand. “John Winchester, Dean’s dad,”
“Dad, this is Castiel,” Dean threw his arm over Cas’ shoulders.
Cas’ skin itched with the need to turn his head and kiss the grin from Dean’s face.
“Ah, so you’re the famous Castiel. I’ve heard a lot about you, all good things,” He shook Castiel’s hand, shooting him a toothy smile. He looked like Dean a lot, Cas noticed, but he supposed Dean looked like Mary more.
Sam was mostly John - it was the nose and chin.
Cas spent the night glued to Charlie and Jo’s sides, listening to people laughing and wishing Dean a happy birthday while he ran around playing happy host, taking presents, cards and the like from them as they arrived.
When he thought nobody was looking, Dean gestured for Cas to follow him. Cas followed him through to his old bedroom.
When the door was shut, Dean pounced on Cas.
“I’ve been waiting to do that all night,” He kissed him, hard, biting his lip. “We’ve got 5 minutes before they start wondering where they are, and another five once Jo covers for us. I’m showing you my vinyl collection, okay?”
“Dean I-” Cas choked as Dean unzipped his pants, pushing his hand inside his boxers and palming at Cas’ dick. He groaned, hardening almost instantly. “Fuck,”
Dean dropped to his knees and took Cas’ length into his mouth, hollowing his cheeks as he sucked. Cas’ head threw back as he groaned, gripping Dean’s hair and pulling.
Cas had planned for this to be the other way round, as a birthday treat, but Dean was relentless.
If he tried to pull Dean up, to tell him ‘now you’, Dean would suck harder, take him in deeper, and Castiel found himself almost out of his mind, watching his dick fuck Dean’s mouth.
“I’m gonna- Dean, Dean I’m gonna-” Cas tried, and Dean grabbed Cas’ hips, steadying him. Cas groaned loudly as he came, and Dean swallowed every last drop, pulling off with an extremely unsexy pop.
“That was,” Cas breathed, his legs giving in and falling beside Dean. “That was not on tonight’s agenda,”
“I know,” Dean grinned, knocking Cas’ shoulder with his own.
Dean made Castiel go downstairs before him and pretend he was putting the vinyl collection back in the box.
Jo shot him a knowing smirk as he sat next to her and hoped ‘I just had sex’ wasn’t written across his forehead.
Dean and his father were stood in the kitchen across from each other, listening to Sam tell them about a case from work that he’d just won.
A divorce gone bad where they were suing each other for something or other, and Sam and his client had won, when the odds were with the other guy.
Sam was perfect.
He had the career, the wife, the ex-wife who was still his best friend, and he looked like he was making partner within the next two years - he was pretty much living the life Dean’s parents wanted for Dean.
Dean wasn’t bitter though.
He loved his brother, he loved Ruby (the wife), and Jessica (the ex-wife who was now best friends with Ruby), and he couldn’t wait to have mini-Sammy’s running around for Dean to corrupt.
He knew the apple pie life wasn’t for him and he knew his parents must have guessed that, as they’d stopped trying to get him a ‘real job’, in John’s words, and let him write to his hearts content.
John had even bought him a typewriter for Christmas - not that Dean had used it, as he was concerned he’d break it.
“When are you gonna settle down, Dean?” John asked, out of the blue.
“Huh?”
“You know, find a girl, get married, maybe punch out a kid or two.” He set his beer down and folded his arms, raising an eyebrow at his eldest son.
“A wife? Dad, I’m not-” Dean tried.
“I know you’re not about that American Dream kind of life, Dean, but I know your mother worries, and she’s always dropping hints about grandchildren and I just think-”
“Dad, I-” Dean felt a lump in his throat. Words trying to force their way out. He tried to swallow them down but they clung to his throat for dear life. He knew it was now or never.
He had to tell him.
“And I’m completely okay with you writing, I’ve read some of your books, and I bet you meet all sorts of girls through that, but when are you going to actually find a girl that you stick with rather than leaving a string of girls in one city. That’s all good when you’re young, but when you’re older, you-”
“Dad, I’m gay,” Dean blurted.
He swore the music stopped, and everyone turned to look at him. He was sure every eye was on him, he was sure they noticed the way he felt himself shy away from his father, ready to run when his father told him he was disgusting and he needed to leave.
He was sure he was going to get hit, and he knew Sammy was holding his breath, ready to retaliate if his father said anything.
“Oh. That explains a few things,” John replied, finally.
Dean repeated himself, louder, wondering if John hadn’t quite heard him.
“Okay, Dean.”
“Dad, I’m gay. I like men. Well, I like girls, too, but, right now, I’m seeing a man and I love him, and I think I’m going to settle down with him, and I am going to marry a man,”
“Okay, Dean,” John swigged his beer and patted his son on the shoulder.
“Why aren’t you hitting me? Why aren’t you shouting at me? Why aren’t you telling me I’m disgusting and to never come here again? Say something, Dad!” Dean shouted, getting closer to John, wondering if John wanted Dean to start it.
Then he could say it was Dean’s fault, not his own.
“Is that what you think of me, Dean? You’re my son. I love you, your happiness is all I could ask for. If this man makes you happy, that’s the best news I can hear. I’m proud of you, Deano, okay?” John pulled Dean into a hug and he swore he felt his old man crying.
Hell, Dean felt like crying.
“Now, where’s this boy of yours? I want to give him the official Winchester welcome,”
“He’s over there,” Dean pointed at Castiel, who was deep in conversation with Mary. Probably about baking; she was trying to teach him to cook like a Winchester.
Dean wiped his eyes.
“Castiel?” John questioned. “I probably should have called it. So, you wanna marry him, huh?”
Later, when Cas and Dean were intertwined in bed, Cas’ head on Dean’s chest as they drifted off to sleep, Dean kissed the top of Cas’ head.
“I told my dad about us,” He whispered into the darkness.
“Really?” Cas whispered back, cautiously.
“He told me to marry you, Cas. And that’s what I plan on doing,”
Castiel sat up and turned to face Dean, straddling Dean’s thighs and staring down at him.
Dean could make out his grin in the dark and he linked his fingers with Cas’.
“I love you, Cas,” Dean smiled, hoping Castiel knew he meant it. Castiel smiled back, and squeezed Dean’s hands.
I love you, too.